Tag: quad bike

Three breakfasts’ for Jordan and one for me, and we’re back on the quad bike. Via the quicker way back to Port Vila, we bypassed ‘Evergreen Cascades Waterfall’ that had been spoken about a lot by some of the locals and people in the Havannah resort.

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It wasn’t cheap to enter the cascades area, but once we got a wristband, it was approximately a twenty minute hike on a guided trail to the top. Luckily we took the reef shoes provided by the resort, as they came in handy when we started crossing the streams.

The water was crystal clear blue. The sound of the water and immersing ourselves in the dense forest was so peaceful. There weren’t too many people either, which made the trip really relaxing. Jordan was hilarious! He was climbing the rocks up the waterfall and exploring the waters and rocks. It was a really worthwhile trip.

We even got to eat some local fruit – do not ask me what it was because I have no clue! The kid was all the way up in this tall tree. The only reason we saw him was because the other person he was with told him to come down. He climbed down the tree so skill fully with his teeth gritting the bottom of his shirt, which was full of fruit. We said “hi” and he offered us his only ripe fruit and then said goodbye. It was just pure kindness.

We made one more stop at a coffee shop before returning the quad bike. I had been really enjoying the ‘Tanna Coffee’ back at the resort, so we stopped off at their factory on the way back to Port Vila. Their tables in the cafe were made out of pallets (brings back some memories from the wedding) and the place smelt of rich and bitter aromas. They were also selling art and homemade candles, soaps and moisturisers. One of the guys that worked there was really excited to show us the process and how they make the coffee that they sell, which was really cool. Of course we left with coffee, but nothing to actually prepare it in.

Unfortunately it was nearing our 24 hour hire and we had to catch the free shuttle back to the resort. We filled up the quad bike – not that we used very much petrol at all, it just needed to be filled up when we returned it. And enjoyed the city driving. Somehow navigating back through Port Vila, we found the hire place and dropped off the quad bike.

Back at the resort, we had a sunset snorkel and then had dinner out on the jetty over the water. After some delicious coconut pumpkin soup and a drop of chardonnay, we came back to the villa to see flower petals scattered all over the room, a bottle of wine and fruit platter. We spent the rest of the night relaxing and talking about the wedding and our amazing honeymoon.

Monday morning consisted of a quick brekkie and a trip into town on the free shuttle. On the way in, it started to get busier on the roads and there was a lot more people outside on the streets. We past a lot of stalls and a couple bigger fruit and veg markets. There was also quite a bit of construction of new buildings/hotels.

The bus driver dropped us off in the middle of Port Villa. We wandered off into the streets. The shopping was very different to back home. There wasn’t really any clothing shops or really any cafes, just a lot of buildings. We stumbled upon a huge building that was filled with a hundred stalls selling local styled clothing garments, homewares, art, henna and hair services. I was so excited to get my hair braided as I hadn’t had it done before. I started with a section on the side but then proceeded to get my whole head braided. Whilst Jordan waited patiently, I played hand clapping games and magic tricks with two kids – I’m guessing they were the children of the lady who was doing my hair.

After a bit of looking around, we made our way to the farmers market. It was huge and a central part of the city where a lot of people came to sell their produce. There were also stalls selling gifts, art, clothing, flowers and food. I loved seeing all the hand woven baskets. So skilful to hold that much weight!

Starting to get peckish (how unusual), we sat down at a tavern that served wood oven pizza – and also because it had a really groovy sugar skull stuck to the side of building. We were served by a very friendly chef, as we listened to covers of old school rock songs. Once finished, we grabbed an ice cream and began our climb up a giant hill to find a mysterious (very difficult to find) bike/car hire place.

Nearly dying of dehydration (not really, but it felt like it) we made it to the hire place to hear that all of the quad bikes had been hired out by some people on the cruise ship that had come in, but were soon to be returned. We went and checked out the supermarket across the road (air conditioned) and had fun looking at the different products. We left with an iced tea.

Back at the hire place, we hopped onto a bright red quad bike after Jordan got a safety run down on how to use the bike by someone half his size (hehe it was kind of funny).

Jordan jumped on the front to drive and I hopped behind him with the bags and camera. We spent a solid half an hour trying to get out of Port Vila with a very colourful (Dora the Explorer type style) map and hit a number of dead ends – we must have said ‘that trail we blaze’ about three or four times (Eldorado, anyone?). It was nice when we finally got out of the hustle and bustle, it was starting to get confusing driving on the wrong side of the road (on the left) and going around roundabouts; “Jordan! Give way! Give way! Give way to your left! GO!”

The one thing that was a definite on the map was the one road that went around the island. It was bitumen for the most part and went through the costal towns.

At first there was a lot of green jungle. It reminded me of a scene out of Avatar. It was magical. We pulled the quad bike over and took a couple happy snaps. There were barely any cars. And the only one that actually did past us, stopped and asked if we were okay and if we needed any help #whatevenisthisplace.

On our adventure, there was this crazy time where we past a very friendly group of people, waving and yelling out something we couldn’t hear, as we neared a bridge. Thinking nothing of it, we continued, weaving around fallen down palm trees and debris. Right as we were crossing the bridge, we saw a bit of a gap. As we got closer, we realised that it had been damaged, most likely in a storm/cyclone, and hadn’t been repaired, thus the palm trees to stop cars and trucks from crossing – not helpful when your riding a small, powerful quad bike. We were so close to crossing the bridge, but decided that we’d best not as it was quite a drop down into the gorge and we wanted to go back to Australia in one piece. Giggling, we made our way back to our friendly group of locals. They directed us down a detour that put us back on our path.

One of my favourite things about driving around Vanuatu was the people. I haven’t had so many waves in my direction – like ever. There were kids running up besides the quad bike, holding their hands out for high fives, people in the cars coming the opposite direction flashing their lights and waving, even people deep into the town that you wouldn’t even think could see us were saying hi. Literally, every single person we past, without a doubt, waved and/or said hi. It was really warming and we felt super comfortable exploring their island.

It was quite an ordeal to find petrol. There were no petrol stations in any of the towns that we could see. Starting to get a little worried, we asked some friendly people that pointed us in the direction of a small shop. It was the last building, right on the outskirts of the town. It was filled with approximately two of every basic need. Tampons, chocolate, tuna, and even pizza shapes – yes, we did get some for the road. We asked the shop assistant for petrol and he nodded, turned and headed out the back door. He returned five minutes later with a large glass bottle and proceeded to fill up our quad bike – the last place we would’ve thought to look.